The research program utilizes various approaches within the disciplines of neurophysiology and neuroanatomy to investigate a) the effects of epileptiform discharges on the developing brain and b) basic abnormalities in cell-cell interactions in epileptogenesis. The specific projects are 1) electrophysiology of focal epileptogenesis; 2) epilepsy and the developing visual system; and 3) electrophysiology of dissociated nerve cell cultures. The long-term goals of the program are to define the basic functional abnormalities which contribute to epileptogenesis, and thereby to develop a rationale for therapeutic approaches which will be useful in treating the clinical epilepsies.